February 11, 2025
On February 11, 2025, members of the O’Neill Institute’s Center for Health and Human Rights (CHHR) and the organization Ríos submitted written inputs to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and Girls (CEDAW) for their General Recommendation No. 41 on the impact of gender stereotypes on the enjoyment of the rights enshrined in the Convention.
CHHR and Ríos’ submission focuses on the harmful impacts of gender stereotyping on the health of women and girls. The submission outlines the ways in which gender stereotypes restrict women’s autonomy, limit their access to healthcare, and worsen the quality of care they receive. Additionally, the submission emphasizes that health inequities are reinforced by biases in diagnoses, treatment, and medical decision-making, often leading to the dismissal of women’s symptoms. Sexual and reproductive health is particularly impacted, as demonstrated by barriers to contraception, abortion, and cases of forced sterilization. Similarly, obstetric violence persists due to harmful stereotypes and beliefs about childbirth, leading to mistreatment, denial of anesthesia, and coercive practices.
The submission highlights that specific groups of women are more vulnerable to the impacts of gender stereotypes, including Roma women, women with disabilities, and those living with HIV, among others, and face intersecting discrimination—worsening their healthcare outcomes.
Discussing the submission, Silvia Serrano Guzmán, Co-Director of the Center for Health and Human Rights said “this General Recommendation is an excellent opportunity for CEDAW to address the way in which gender stereotypes operate as determinants of health- negatively impacting all health in all its dimensions, including autonomy, consent, diagnosis, prevention and treatment. In our submission, we ask CEDAW to name these stereotypes, clearly identify the effects they have, and make recommendations to the States parties to eradicate them.”